A three dimensional CAD system, which can adjust an arrangement of parts in a three dimensional virtual space, is used to design an architecture for a plant such as a thermal or nuclear power plant, or other facilities, or a product.
Conventional three dimensional CAD system is disclosed in Japanese patent publication (Kokai) 2000-11030. In one aspect, a method for improving an efficiency of designing process is disclosed in this application.
In a conventional three dimensional CAD system, the parts are selected from a parts database, which stores data of those parts. The parts chosen from the part database are arranged in a three dimensional virtual space typically via a graphical user interface (referred to as GUI). After that, an arrangement data of the parts in the three dimensional virtual space are stored in an parts arrangement database. In these conventional three dimensional CAD system, the part database is usually called as a library.
It is typical to use many of the same parts as common parts for the various architectures, plants, facilities or products. When designing such an object with three dimensional CAD system, it is convenient to get the data of those common parts from the parts database (library) and arrange the parts in the three dimensional virtual space. In other words, such common parts can be easily and repeatably arranged in the three dimensional virtual space when it has been stored in the parts database.
Conventionally, two well-known methods, solely or combined, are used to create and register the data of the common parts in the parts database of the three dimensional CAD system.
The first method includes registering all of the information (data) that is necessary to build a three dimensional configuration of the parts in the parts database. For example, a basic configurations such as a rectangular parallelepiped or a cylinder, and measurements (numerical values) for those basic configurations are registered together in the parts database for this method. The parts can be arranged in the three dimensional virtual space by retrieving this information from the parts database without changing or calculating this data with this method.
The second method includes running a program by setting parameter to build the parts. When getting the parts data from the parts database, parameters are input, for example, from an external file for this method. Input parameters with the parts data are used in the program and result in the configuration of the parts. When creating simple configured parts, it is useful to apply this method because similar configurations of such parts can be easily obtained by varying the parameters linearly. A cylinder-like configured heater used in a plant is one example of a simple configured part. With this method, once the parts are created and registered in the parts database, they are applicable to other similar parts. Therefore, this method is useful when a number of the parameters used is relatively smaller. On the contrary, when the parts have complicated configuration, a number of the parameters tend to be relatively larger, and it is difficult to build the parts in the three dimensional virtual space.
In conventional three dimensional CAD system, the parts database is separately built from the three dimensional CAD system. Therefore, one has to exit the three dimensional CAD system when they want to edit the parts database.
Further, a structure of data is not the same in the parts database as in the three dimensional CAD system. In a parts database used with the parameters, a special knowledge is necessary to handle the parts database because data format of those parameters is in a special format. And it is necessary to use a special apparatus or software to process the data stored in the parts database.
In addition, the conventional three dimensional CAD system only handles the arrangement information of the parts, and the parts database only handles information to build the parts. Thus, it is difficult for user to check both information at the same time in their designing process with the conventional three dimensional CAD system. In other words, a user configures parts by first using the parts database, and second, they adjust the arrangement of those built parts as a blocked component by using a three dimensional CAD system. Since these two steps are necessary to adjust an arrangement of the parts in the three dimensional virtual space in the conventional three dimensional CAD system, it is difficult to design by flexibly adjusting the arrangement in the three dimensional virtual space and changing the configuration of the parts data.